A History of Violence

It reviews better than it plays — admired more than it is enjoyed.

• “Other films this year will have to sweat bullets to match the explosive power and subversive wit of David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. It slams you like a body punch and then starts messing with your head.”

  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone · 100

• “A masterpiece of indirection and pure visceral thrills, David Cronenberg's latest mindblower, A History of Violence, is the feel-good, feel-bad movie of the year.”

  Manohla Dargis, The New York Times · 100

• “Violence is in the spirit of the hardest-hitting film noir offerings from the '50s, but far more explicit. It's also in the spirit of the Western.”

  Mike Clark, USA Today · 100

• “This masterpiece, an art film deftly masquerading as a thriller, seems to celebrate small-town pastoralism and critique big-city violence, but this position turns out to be double-edged.”

  Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader · 100

• “A sobering reflection on our culture's attitude toward violence.”

  Desson Thomson, Washington Post · 100